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GOP lawmakers seek updated 'official time' report

By
Jack Moore

Two Republican members of the House want to know how many hours federal employees
are spending on union-related business while on the job.

That information is contained in an annual report published by the Office of
Personnel Management. But it's been more than year since OPM has provided updated
statistics on employees' use of "official time" and the most recent available data
is from 2011. Federal workers spent a total of nearly 3.4 million hours
working on union activities that year, the most since 2004.

"Since taxpayers pay the salary of all federal employees, they have a right to
know how much of their money is used for conducting union business while on the
clock," Ross said in a statement provided by his office.

Will OPM release report this year?

OPM has published a report on the use of official time annually since 2002.

But Ross and Gingrey, two of the most skeptical members of Congress when it comes
to federal employees' use of official time, said they are concerned OPM may phase
out publication of the report altogether.

In their letter, Ross and Gingrey noted Archuleta's testimony before a Senate committee last July on her
nomination to head OPM, in which she said she couldn't commit to continuing to
publish the official time report. She said she would look into it if confirmed.

"Your testimony raised concerns that you are not committed to the production of an
annual official time report," the letter stated.

Meanwhile, Gingrey and Ross said they haven't heard from OPM on when — or
even whether — the report detailing official time through the end of fiscal
2012 will be released.

"We feel sure that you would agree that continued and timely preparation of these
reports is necessary to provide transparency in the use of official time and
provide oversight of taxpayer dollars," they wrote in the March 24 letter to
Archuleta. "Failure to provide an official time report could contribute to a
further erosion of trust in the federal government, as it seems to suggest that
the government is unwilling to account for how its employees spend their workday."

The letter asked OPM to release the report by April 18.

Federal News Radio has requested comment from OPM.

Unions say official time vital

Congress authorized the use of official time in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act.
Federal-employee unions say it is a vital part of the federal collective bargaining system.
Federal employees' use of official time must be approved by managers and cannot be
spent on internal union business, according to OPM. Instead, employees must be
performing what OPM calls representational tasks, such as participating in labor-
management forums or hearing employee complaints.

In 2011, federal employees spent nearly 3.4 million hours working on union
activities. That averages out to about 2.8 hours of union-related work per
employee for a total cost of more than $155.7 million. Still, OPM noted the costs
amount to one-tenth of 1 percent of the total cost of federal employees' salary
and benefits in 2011 and "can contribute in meaningful ways to the ability of
federal employees to carry out their duties on behalf of the American people."

Critics of the practice, however, point out that the use of and costs associated
with official time grew in 2011, equating to a year's worth of work for more than
1,600 employees.